photo by Gary Johnson		:: electronic press kit :: View Rebecca Zapen's Folk EPK _ hi-res photos (300 dpi) _____ click image to open window with hi-res version          hi-res poster _ listen _____ [ folk-pop sampler ] [ jazz sampler ] _ reviews _____ click [ here ] _ biography _____ Versatile violinist, vocalist, and songwriter Rebecca Zapen's first musical memory was that of sitting beneath the baby grand piano as a toddler, her ears filled by the sounds of her mother playing Chopin, Beethoven, and Mozart. Her college years were filled with opera, orchestra, chamber music, and late night jazz jams. The first band she played in consisted of Celtic harp, keyboard, violin, and a guy singing through a CB radio mouthpiece, playing Johnny Cash and Tom Waits covers. Next came a klezmer band, and the journey continued to twist and unfold, rich in varied musical experiences. She walks her present path as a performer of range and depth: a classically-trained violinist, a jazz vocalist and violinist in quartet ZapStar, and a songwriter/composer. In her newest folk-pop configuration Rebecca's dreamy, ethereal vocals swoon and sweep atop sublime melodies and infectiously charming lyrics, instantly hypnotic and effortlessly charming. Accompanying herself on ukulele, guitar, and violin, Zapen's music is mellow, creative, happy, and smart. Her beginnings were traditional enough, with a classical music education beginning at age 3 with the Suzuki Method, and culminating with her earning music and biology degrees while attending Florida State University on a music scholarship. Since then, her musical involvements have been with groups whose styles include jazz, swing, classical, klezmer, country, folk, and rock. Zapen has performed with or opened for artists such as Vassar Clements, Big Sandy & His Fly Rite Boys, Trisha Yearwood, Chris Botti, Tommy Womack, David Bazan, and Anathallo, and has played in musical groups, symphony orchestras, and music festivals throughout the United States, and in the UK and Europe. Her versatile violin playing, pure clear voice, and ability to write unique, nostalgia-infused music have earned her comparisons to Astrud Gilberto, Suzanne Vega, The Ditty Bops, and Andrew Bird. Her influences include Stephane Grappelli, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Jonathan Richman, The Roches, Chet Baker, and Nick Drake. Zapen founded her own record label in 2003, naming it Bashert, which is a Yiddish word meaning "destiny" or "fate". Rebecca's discography includes her debut release Hummingbird (Bashert Records 2003), laden with bossa nova and blending violin, voice, sax, marimba, and rhythm section into a warm spacious sound; self-titled folk EP Michelle Payne & Rebecca Zapen (2003); Japanese Bathhouse (2005), Zapen's first album of original folk-pop, colored with nostalgic jazz and bossa nova-tinged influences, and several selections featuring sophistocated harmonies which are deceptively subtle ("We Didn't Bother", "Smile", "Dolores"). With instrumentation ranging from simple ukulele and vocals to lush arrangements of strings and brass, and musical accents from melodica and glockenspiel, Japanese Bathhouse was released in Fall 2005 after a European summer busking tour, with songs about anything from pirate love gone wrong to bread crumb trails to nudity in foreign lands. Relix describes the album, "Nothing adequately prepares for the way in which her deeply personal album instantaneously envelops and never loses its grip.... The title song and others bring to mind no less than early solo McCartney and Brian Wilson's SMiLE...One of those near-perfect hidden gems..." Her most recent release is ZapStar (2006), in which the Rebecca Zapen / Gary Starling Group interprets jazz standards and even a couple of Beatles classics via their jazz combo of guitar, upright bass, and drums, with Zapen on violin and vocals. Zapen was a Finalist in the 2007 DiscMakers' Independent Music World Series. She placed 2nd in the Bushman World Ukulele Video Contest, and is now endorsed by Bushman Music Works. Rebecca's music has been featured on NPR's All Songs Considered: Open Mic. Other career highlights have been her recent appearance as jazz vocal soloist with the Hollywood Philharmonic Orchestra, and as the mandolin soloist in Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra's production of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni. An in-demand session musician, Zapen has composed for and performed on recordings for film soundtracks, television, public radio, theme parks, and various musical groups. Quirky talent: "I can play just about every TV show theme from the late 70's and 80's. Don't ask me why." Unusual performing experience: "Scrambling down a Mayan pyramid, running across a huge field, and hiking my way up another pyramid, to meet a violinist playing his Norwegian Hardanger fiddle. We met, and I played an American fiddle tune on it. It was rather surreal."